VOL. I · NO. 119 · standardpoorly.comWED · JUN 03 · 2026FORWARD HORIZON · 1 d / 1 wk / 1 mo / 3 mo
STANDARD Poorly
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StandardmacroSP-5107

Retail Sales, Total

Advance retail and food-services sales (Census). Headline monthly consumer-demand reading.

the verdict —
At the 63d horizon, this signal hits in the predicted direction 42% of fires. Mean SPY forward return when it lights: -1.05%. Status: in sample. n = 100. Bearish on the underlying when fired.

Current state

Latest value · 2026-04-01
757,085
vs ~6 weeks ago
10%
vs 60 days ago
24%
vs 7 days ago
3.4%
last 90 observations · 2018-11-01 2026-04-01

The series — full history

Daily readings, every reading we have. Pick a window with the time-period buttons; flip to candles via the global toggle in the masthead (or press C). Toggle the SPY overlay to see how this series and the S&P 500 have moved together.

Retail Sales, Total
757K +430K (+131.36%) over 1Y
Hover for date + value · Toggle SPY to compare relative move
774K657K540K423K305K20052010201520212026
2005-05-01 → 2026-04-01 · 252 bars

What it has historically predicted

On days when this signal fires (deviates 2+ standard deviations from its 30-day average, in either direction), SPY has historically averaged -1.0% over the next trading quarter, moving in the opposite direction 58% of the time.

50%
+0.10%
1 d
55%
−0.18%
1 wk
52%
−0.28%
1 mo
58%
−1.0%
3 mo
50%
6 mo
50%
1 yr

Beyond SPY — how this signal performs across markets

Same fire days, different forward returns. Each row asks: when this signal fires, what does that asset do? The big number is the average return; underneath is how often the asset moved the same direction as the signal (50% would be a coin flip).

target
1 d
1 wk
1 mo
3 mo
6 mo
1 yr
SPY
S&P 500 ETF
n=100
+0.10%
50% same direction
-0.18%
45% same direction
-0.28%
48% same direction
-1.0%
42% same direction
50% same direction
50% same direction
WTI
crude oil
n=100
-0.21%
51% same direction
-0.70%
50% same direction
-2.5%
42% same direction
-6.2%
39% same direction
-10.6%
31% same direction
50% same direction
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Each fire in history — when the signal popped, what SPY did next

Each bar is one historical fire — the indicator's value moved 2.5+ standard deviations from its rolling 180 trading-day mean (~9 months), or for monotonic “days since” indicators, crossed an 80th/90th/95th/99th percentile. Bar height = SPY's forward return at the selected horizon, signed by signal direction. Green above zero means the market moved with the signal; red below zero means it moved against.

horizon:
15 fires · 33% positive · avg 0.87%
⚠ This indicator hasn't fired since 2022-09-01 (1371 calendar days ago). Currently quiet — chart shows historical fires only.
−15.7%−7.8%0%+7.8%+15.7%2021-03-01 · ↑ up-fire (z=3.07) · SPY 63d: +7.82%2021-04-01 · ↑ up-fire (z=3.07) · SPY 63d: +7.44%2021-06-01 · ↑ up-fire (z=2.95) · SPY 63d: +7.76%2021-07-01 · ↑ up-fire (z=2.71) · SPY 63d: −0.30%2021-09-01 · ↑ up-fire (z=2.70) · SPY 63d: −0.29%2021-10-01 · ↑ up-fire (z=2.76) · SPY 63d: +9.38%2021-11-01 · ↑ up-fire (z=2.78) · SPY 63d: −1.54%2021-12-01 · ↑ up-fire (z=2.64) · SPY 63d: −3.28%2022-02-01 · ↑ up-fire (z=2.76) · SPY 63d: −8.07%2022-03-01 · ↑ up-fire (z=2.86) · SPY 63d: −3.96%2022-04-01 · ↑ up-fire (z=2.90) · SPY 63d: −15.67%2022-06-01 · ↑ up-fire (z=2.82) · SPY 63d: −3.52%2022-07-01 · ↑ up-fire (z=2.67) · SPY 63d: −6.31%2022-08-01 · ↑ up-fire (z=2.65) · SPY 63d: −5.29%2022-09-01 · ↑ up-fire (z=2.57) · SPY 63d: +2.77%2021-03-012021-12-012022-09-01
Each bar = one fire day (|z|≥2.5 from 180-day rolling baseline). Bar height = SPY return over the the next trading quarter, signed by signal direction. Dashed line = average across fires.
shaded cell = each row's strongest horizon (green = bullish forward return, red = bearish)“same direction” means the asset moved the same way the signal moved — opposite of a coin flip.
Analyst · previewYou're seeing the public read on this signal. Analyst unlocks the full multi-year track record + bootstrap confidence intervals + an alert when this indicator fires. Trader adds the walk-forward backtest + intraday refresh + the API / MCP to pull this signal into Claude.Compare tiers →